


Just Communication

by NoBrandHero



Series: Constants & Variables: A Species Swap AU [6]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Culture Shock, Gen, Humanstuck, Pale Romance | Moirallegiance, Past Character Death, Post-Sburb/Sgrub, Species Swap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-13
Updated: 2016-04-13
Packaged: 2018-06-01 23:16:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6540601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoBrandHero/pseuds/NoBrandHero
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Terezi and Kanaya bond over soda pop, dead siblings, and the emotional complexities that come with dating outside of their species.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just Communication

**Author's Note:**

> This is one of those scenes that I kind of wish I could have squeezed into the main story, but, by the time I thought of it, it was a little late to set it up and find an appropriate place for it, so. Mini sequel it is!
> 
> Quick context for those who haven't read the [main story](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1388143) and would prefer not to dig into that many words: this is a species swap AU where, similarly to canon, Kanaya killed Eridan and Terezi killed Vriska, with the added bonus that this time around their murder victims happened to be their siblings. The game is over, everyone's god tier, and they're living in the post-game setting.

It was none of Kanaya's business that Terezi had taken up residence in an isolated room far from the usual living quarters. She had no room to talk either, given that she'd likewise found herself wandering through such a quiet location.

They hadn't named many of the rooms in their post-game abode -- in large part because there were more rooms than anyone knew what to do with -- but it would not have been a stretch to dub that particular space as "the lounge." More accurately, it was "the lounge that nobody used, because there were already rooms with couches and TVs in more convenient locations," which was why Kanaya was so startled to glance in and spot any occupant, let alone an occupant as socially-inclined as Terezi.

Kanaya paused in the doorway and asked, "What are you doing?" It was not the most eloquent greeting, even by spur of the moment standards, but she'd never shied away from bluntness before. 

Terezi lounged over a sofa, one leg dangling off the armrest while her head and torso took up a good two-thirds of the seating. "I'm drinking a red soda and feeling crappy," she said, waving an arm at a two liter bottle of soda sitting on the floor next to her. It was a little over halfway empty.

Kanaya narrowed her eyes. "That looks like one of Dirk's orange sodas."

"Why do you think I'm feeling crappy?" Terezi fumbled until she made contact with the top of the bottle. "Sburb is just like all the other video games: it wasn't fucking designed with blind players in mind. Do you know what a pain in the ass it is to alchemize a specific flavor of soda when you can't see?" She took a gulp of orange-colored soda straight out of the bottle. "So yeah. I stole from Dirk's stash instead."

Kanaya glanced to the nearby alchemiter sitting in the far corner -- it was rare for a room to be without at least one, as there were dozens of alchemiters strewn around the building, fully upgraded with every add-on Sburb could offer. "Should I alchemize you some strawberry Fanta?"

Terezi raised her head. "Try to get Sunkist," she said. "It's caffeinated."

Kanaya wasn't familiar with alchemizing red soda, let alone Sunkist, but she'd concocted enough beverages over the past few weeks that she had a decent intuition for it. As she tried different combinations, she ended up with similar but not quite correct results: a grape Sunkist, a root beer Faygo -- _god_ no -- and a diet orange Fanta.

At least the failures gave them access to the captcha codes if they ever needed a duplicate in the future. Unlike the in-game machines, the alchemiters at her disposal cost zero grist to use. Given that there was no way to replenish their stockpile of grist and they were scheduled to live approximately forever, it was fortunate that Sburb or Skaia or whatever was in charge of the dimension beyond the endgame door had granted them a means of infinite supplies.

Kanaya hadn't decided if the end result reminded her more of abusing a cheat code, or unlocking an overpowered bonus character attribute near the end of a video game. Either one was fitting in the circumstances.

Fourth time proved to be the charm, as the alchemiter finally deployed a bottle of strawberry Sunkist. Kanaya was careful not to captchalogue it as she delivered it to Terezi.

Terezi squealed and hugged the bottle to her chest. "Hello at last, my beautiful red beverage," she said with a wide grin, stroking the bottle's neck. "Prepare for a slow yet inevitable death." She twisted her body around until she'd reversed her position, her back to the armrest and her legs taking up two couch cushions, so she could safely chug without choking.

Kanaya didn't understand how color made Terezi so happy when her vision had been completely gone for over a year, but it didn't particularly matter and didn't seem worth questioning aloud.

Kanaya settled on the small portion of the couch that Terezi hadn't claimed. "Am I correct to presume that the disappointment in your beverage was not the primary reason you were feeling crappy?" she asked.

Terezi waved a finger at Kanaya. "I'll make a detective out of you yet, Private Maryam." Her grin remained, but her tone had already lost some of its enthusiasm.

"Might I inquire about the true source of your distress, or is that cheating in lieu of searching for clues?"

Terezi shrugged and took another swig of soda. "Interrogations are a thing," she mumbled around the plastic.

"Then I inquire about the true source of your distress." Kanaya folded her hands in her lap. "Spill it, as they say."

"Jesus, isn't it obvious?" Terezi said with a sigh, pulling her knees up. "I have blood on my hands."

Kanaya craned her neck to peer around Terezi's legs and was relieved to find that her skin was clean. "It looks like you washed off any stains long before they settled, actually." 

Terezi rolled her head back. "Oh my god, it's a dramatic metaphor for murder. I'd feel if my hands literally had blood on them!"

"Oh." Kanaya frowned. That was all the more concerning. No one had died since they'd completed the game and she dearly hoped this wasn't Terezi's way of announcing otherwise. "Are you talking about Vriska?" she asked. "Given that she's been reincarnated on some sort of remade Earth, I'm not sure her temporary death counts as murder."

There was no trace of Terezi's usual smile as she said, "I still killed her. That's pretty fucked up and it's not something I can just wave off because she magically got better." She curled in on herself.

Kanaya turned her attention to the nearest wall -- it didn't seem appropriate to stare when Terezi looked so uncomfortable. She had barely counted Vriska's death as murder even before she'd been reincarnated; Kanaya had had no inkling that Terezi felt otherwise. Self-defense trumped murder, as far as Kanaya was concerned. "I still don't feel bad about Eridan," she said. "I probably should, but I don't."

"That asshole had it coming," Terezi said with a scoff.

Kanaya nodded, the image of Feferi's death flashing sharply in her memory. "Yes, he did. That's why I don't regret his death, since it prevented many other tragedies. But Vriska also had it coming."

Terezi scowled, her entire face scrunching up in distaste.

Kanaya glanced over when there was no reply. "My justification for Eridan's death is not relevant to Vriska's situation?"

Terezi groaned and hid her head under her arms.

"Was there an unscrupulous factor in Vriska's death that I'm not aware of?" Kanaya asked. She knew very few specific details about the confrontation, beyond that Dave had been Terezi's sole partner in crime.

"It just didn't feel right!" Terezi flopped back, letting the soda fall against the back of the couch. "The death penalty isn't given out lightly anywhere except Texas. I don't want to be Texas law!"

Kanaya pursed her lips. "Then perhaps you're your own law, like Batman."

Terezi slapped a hand over her face. "Batman doesn't kill people, Kanaya."

"Oh." Kanaya had not actually watched the Batman movies very closely. Her mother had been none too fond of their portrayals of women, so most of her superhero knowledge came from listening to her friends talk about them. "I'm sure there's a superhero other than Batman who would agree you did the right thing."

Terezi turned on her side, cradling the Sunkist. "Maybe. We'll never know what a court of law would decide on this, because there's no damn legal system around here, but..." She groaned. "I know you're right. Everyone's right. Whether it was justice or not, I did what I needed to and probably saved all of us from certain doom." She unscrewed the lid of the soda, almost spilling it on the couch. "The thing is though, sometimes out of nowhere, I still miss her dumb face. Is that stupid or what?"

"Well, she was your friend for many years..." Kanaya hesitated. No, that was a lie. Even if she felt more bitterness than nostalgia for it, denying the past helped nothing. "Our friend," she corrected herself. "She may have been more distress than comfort the last couple of years, but she was still once dear to us. Why would it be stupid to miss that?"

Terezi sat up to sip at her drink, grumbling around it. "Because she's a jerk who got what was coming to her and we all fucking know it."

Kanaya resisted the urge to nod along. That was clearly not what Terezi needed or else she wouldn't be moping to begin with. "I think... it's probably all right to miss jerks, though." Kanaya fiddled with the fabric of her dress and felt heat rise to her cheeks. "Do you know what I miss?"

"What?" Terezi said, lowering the soda.

Kanaya slid closer, cupped a hand over her mouth, and whispered, "The insufferable gossip columns in my fashion magazines."

Terezi's mouth dropped open. "What? No! You hated that bullshit!"

Kanaya chuckled. "It's a bit sad, isn't it? Fuming over such unnecessary stupidity was one of my rituals, though, so I'm struggling to adapt without it. I'm well aware I'm better off this way, but it doesn't mean it's easy to lose."

"Guess not." Terezi propped herself up on her elbow. "Do you miss the rest of our friends?"

"Often." Kanaya sighed. She wished she could deny it, but even knowing that her friends were safe on Earth again did not lessen the weight that she could never speak to them. "Far more than silly offenses in magazine subscriptions."

Terezi nodded slowly. "Cool, so it's not just me."

"I'm quite certain that Karkat misses them as well, you know," Kanaya said, raising an eyebrow. "He probably carries that burden more than any of us."

"I kinda figured. I just don't like venting to him about serious shit because he gets so fucking overzealous." Terezi smirked and fiddled with the bottle cap, twisting it tighter before loosening it again. "This has been cool, actually, just you and me. It's nice to have someone to talk to about all this emotional baggage."

"You've just been penting this up?" Kanaya asked with a frown. "What about Dave?"

Terezi faltered. "Well, obviously I've mentioned it to him, but... he doesn't fucking get it," she said, her words growing quieter.

"Oh," Kanaya said, because there was really nothing else that could be said.

"Why do you think I'm drinking away these mixed feelings all by my lonesome in the middle of nowhere?" Terezi huffed, taking another swig of soda. The bottle was already half empty. "I gave up talking to him about it. He thinks we did what we had to and there's no reason to second guess it, which was nice to hear in the midst of the game and all, but it's not comforting anymore."

"It sounds like a normal reaction for a troll to me."

Terezi's shoulders tensed. "Yeah, but sometimes I want to be able to talk about this tough stuff with my boyfriend and not worry that his eyes are glazing over just because he's a stupid alien!" she snapped, her demeanor immediately drooping afterwards. She mumbled, "And then I wonder how strong of a relationship we actually have if I can't even vent to him."

Kanaya bit her lower lip, knowing it was best to just keep her mouth shut rather than risk riling Terezi up further, but she couldn't resist asking, "Doesn't he have his good points?"

"Duh." Terezi snorted. "I wouldn't date a dude if he was all negatives. Dave's really fun to talk to and he plays games with me and, Kanayaaaa, his horns are so fun to play with." She let out a content sigh, rocking her torso from side to side. "They taste terrible but I don't even care."

Kanaya opened her mouth, paused, then changed her reply to, "You've tasted his horns?"

"Well, yeah, he said they look like candy corn, so how could I not?" Terezi said as if that was the most obvious motivation in the world. "Have you _never_ tasted Rose's horns?"

Kanaya tried not to make a face. "I can't say the idea occurred to me." She'd pondered how Rose's skin tasted, among other things, but her desire to taste a troll's horn was on par with her desire to lick a deer's antler. She cleared her throat. "Please, continue with your assessment of Dave."

"He's just a really cool guy to hang around and kiss," Terezi said with a shrug. "Don't tell him I said that though. It'll go straight to his head and then we'll have to quip overtime for a week to deflate it." She cackled.

"Your relationship doesn't sound strained beyond this disagreement," Kanaya said.

"Yeah, other than our clashing moral standards, I love this crazy shit," Terezi said with a fond smile. "When you spend a month time traveling with a dude, kicking ass with him, dodging constant mortal peril together, you kind of just bond. I feel safe with him." Her nose scrunched up and she slid down in her seat. "I just don't get why he can't get his stupid troll brain to pick up on some human-ish empathy."

"You know, I've been turning over the troll quadrants with Karkat as we both try to understand them better," Kanaya said, choosing her words carefully. The last thing she wanted was to trample over Terezi's already fragile emotional state. "There's an amount of culture shock that I may never recover from, but I've come to wonder if trolls are on the right track in one respect: maybe we shouldn't expect our significant other to be our everything all at once."

Terezi raised her head. "Huh?"

"Perhaps it's all right if Dave isn't a great emotional support, so long as you still love and respect each other and have other reasons to be together." Kanaya felt her face flush. It wasn't that she hadn't deliberated on such a theory for long enough to have confidence in it, but it sounded more embarrassing spoken aloud than she'd expected. She shrugged it off and continued, "It's inevitable that your partner will come up short in one category or another, so... it must be all right that one person can't meet all of your needs, so long as you can find the rest elsewhere."

Terezi tilted her head one way, then the other. "So you mean, like... I need a moirail."

"That's how trolls would put it." Kanaya smiled and patted the back of Terezi's hand. "I think humans could settle for a good friend or two."

Terezi nodded slowly. "Huh. It does already feel better just talking to someone who actually grasps the concept that death is sad even when it's warranted." She flopped back against the couch. "Culture shock is stupid."

"It will wear off with time," Kanaya said with a small smile. "With a little effort to understand the troll mindset he's coming from, I'm sure you'll be able to accept Dave's alien shortcomings."

"Damn. When'd you get so thoughtful about this stuff?" Terezi chuckled.

Kanaya let out a breath she hadn't meant to hold, relieved that her meddling hadn't taken a step too far in the wrong direction. "I'm just trying to understand quadrants. In turn, I've thought over human relationships a bit harder, that's all."

"Cool." Terezi cocked her head. "Why the sudden interest in troll romance? I get Karkat going nuts over it, but I wasn't expecting you to give too many shits."

"The quadrants and our new experiences with them have given me a lot to think about." Kanaya almost stopped the explanation there, but it only seemed fair to bare a little more after all Terezi had shared. "Truth be told, I've struggled with some of the culture shock as well."

Terezi scooted closer. "Oh, yeah?" she said, her curiosity evident from both her voice and posture.

Kanaya hesitated as she searched for the safest way to articulate her worries. "Do you ever... get jealous of Jade?"

"Jade? Why the hell would- Oh!" Terezi's confusion broke and was replaced with laughter. "Because of the moirail thing? Hell no, that's great! Sometimes I get to just flop in a troll cuddle pile with both her and Dave. They're so fucking warm." She hugged herself and snuggled into the back of the couch. "Why? You jealous of John?"

Kanaya was silent as she turned over the many ways she might respond and which she felt the least intimidated to admit. "I try not to be."

Terezi nudged Kanaya with her elbow. "Spit it out, Maryam. You already got an unfair share of heart wrenching romance angst from me."

That was the same logic that already gnawed at Kanaya's mind. It wouldn't be a very equal exchange if she kept her thoughts to herself after Terezi had poured her heart out. "Rose can seem... distant at times, as if I can't quite reach her even if I call out to her." Kanaya frowned. "But then John comes along and she snaps right out of her slump with barely even a nudge from him."

Terezi snorted. "Well, have you met the guy? He probably farts whoopee cushions. No one's brooding on his watch, not even our ever-so-proper empress," she said, straightening her posture and taking on a mock-posh tone as if she was parodying an English queen rather than a teenaged alien ruler. "Besides, I'm pretty sure it's a moirail's job to pull their partner out of slumps." She grinned and settled back with a short chuckle. "Damn. Maybe you're right and it's okay that your matesprit isn't your main emotional support. Maybe that's just not how trolls roll and they'd be confused as hell if they heard us complaining that our matesprits aren't taking on roles they associate with another quadrant."

"Perhaps." Kanaya relaxed in solidarity with Terezi. "Even with the reassurance that this is normal, I still find it difficult to accept that I can't provide adequate support for my girlfriend. It's a struggle that you may relate to," she said with a wry smile. "As you said, culture shock is stupid."

"Hmm. What you need to do is crash their pale party sometime." Terezi leaned against Kanaya and shimmied her shoulders. "Snuuuggle in with them and appreciate how cute they are together and reassure yourself that they're just being the troll equivalent of besties."

Kanaya rested a hand over her mouth as she pondered that. Rose had never gone so far as to kick her out when John arrived, and it was hard to imagine John turning out territorial of his quadrantmate, so perhaps she could test the waters. "I suppose that does sound pleasant. They always seem relaxed when I observe them from afar."

"It's the caliginous quadrant that's awkward," Terezi said with a nod. "That's the one where they kiss and fuck and shit. But I don't think you have to worry about that, because there aren't many candidates for hatemates around here." She offered her soda to Kanaya.

Kanaya sniffed it before taking a sip. "Would you be upset if Dave found a kismesis?"

Terezi furrowed her brow and hummed under her breath. "I guess it'd depend on who it is," she said after a moment. "He and Karkat kinda slip that direction sometimes. Oh man, that would be so fucking hot though." She smirked.

Kanaya raised an eyebrow. "Your ex with your current boyfriend?"

Terezi tilted her head back and cackled. "So hot, Kanaya!"

"I thought there might have been some pitched tension between Dave and Rose, actually."

"Hm." Terezi tapped a finger against her lips. "Less hot, but still decently warm. Their particular type of squabbling reminds me of siblings though, which is kind of a damper."

"Oh. Yes, I suppose that would ruin the appeal," Kanaya said, handing Terezi's Sunkist back.

Terezi took a long swig of soda, leaving only a trickle of liquid at the bottom when she stopped for air. She dropped the bottle to the floor. "Kanaya, I need you to give it to me straight. I can't ask Karkat because he's too biased." She shuffled around to sit cross-legged on the couch and face Kanaya. "Is Dave hot?"

Kanaya made a muffled noise in surprise. That was the last question she'd been prepared for after airing out so many private anxieties. "I don't think I'm qualified to give it to you straight and judge a male individual's sexual appeal," she said. She considered Dave's features as best she could from an objective angle when he wasn't her type in the slightest. "Aesthetically speaking, however, I think you would find him pleasing to the eye if you could still see."

"Awesome." Terezi raised both hands and clenched them at the air. "I can feel his fucking abs every time I slip my hands up his shirt and they are _glorious,_ but it's hard to feel how attractive a face is. I even tried licking it to no avail," she said with a sad sigh.

"I'm sure he appreciated that."

Terezi paused. "Is that sarcasm?"

Kanaya cleared her throat as heat rose to her face. "Rose and her troll sarcasm may be rubbing off on me."

Terezi grinned wide. "I like it." She elbowed Kanaya. "Hey, thanks for letting me blather, Kanaya. I hope I was any kind of reassuring to you too."

Kanaya returned Terezi's manic grin with a smile. "You've given me a lot to think about. I will try to join Rose and John on their pale escapades in order to appreciate their relationship the next time I feel a tinge of unfair jealousy."

Terezi chuckled. "Atta girl." She held up her index and middle finger, aiming them towards Kanaya. Kanaya tilted her head and raised her hand into a peace sign. "What are you doing?" Terezi said after a moment.

Kanaya looked between their hands. "I don't know."

"Form a diamond with me, stupid. We're doing this troll-ways, right?" She waved her hand at Kanaya, almost poking her in the face if Kanaya hadn't been quick to dodge. "We can consider this step one to overcoming culture shock together."

Kanaya raised an arm, meeting her fingertips against Terezi's. "Stupid culture shock."

"Exactly."

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't grab a random Two-Mix song for the title and you can't prove it.


End file.
